Janet Taylor Spence (1923-2015)

The long and remarkable life of Janet Taylor Spence, the sixth woman to serve as president of the American Psychological Association (APA), ended on March 16, 2015, after a short illness. Janet's 1978 book, Masculinity & Femininity, coauthored with Robert Helmreich, was a major contribution to our understanding of the complex relationships between personal attributes, self-esteem, and attitudes toward women, as well their links to both achievement motivation and parental characteristics. Janet's interest in achievement motivation was an extension of her gender work, as she attempted to learn more about the ways in which presumed differences in achievement motivation might be related to the key dimensions of instrumentality and expressiveness. Janet's election to the presidency of the APA was the culmination of a long and broad involvement in the organization. She served on the Board of Directors from 1976 to 1978, and again in 1983 to 1984 during her presidential term. Earlier she served on the Board of Scientific Affairs and edited Contemporary Psychology in the 1970s. Janet was a fellow in four divisions (3, 8, 12, and 35), and in 2004 she received the APA Gold Medal Award for Life Achievement in the Science of Psychology.